---
layout: docs
page_title: filebase64 - Functions - Configuration Language
description: |-
  The filebase64 function reads the contents of the file at the given path and
  returns them as a base64-encoded string.
---

# `filebase64` Function

`filebase64` reads the contents of a file at the given path and returns them as
a base64-encoded string.

```hcl
filebase64(path)
```

The result is a Base64 representation of the raw bytes in the given file.

Nomad uses the "standard" Base64 alphabet as defined in
[RFC 4648 section 4](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4648#section-4).

## Examples

```
> filebase64("${path.module}/hello.txt")
SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=
```

## Related Functions

* [`file`](/nomad/docs/reference/hcl2/functions/file/file) also reads the contents of a given file,
  but interprets the data as UTF-8 text and returns the result directly
  as a string, without any further encoding.
* [`base64decode`](/nomad/docs/reference/hcl2/functions/encoding/base64decode) can decode a
  Base64 string representing bytes in UTF-8, but in practice `base64decode(filebase64(...))`
  is equivalent to the shorter expression `file(...)`.
